Pretty wings
by reid4infinity2
Summary: Mercedes jones lived a hard knock life, with an abusive foster father and problematic boyfriend, and having to help out with her foster siblings. one day, strange things start to happen, and it's all because of one special person. and he just so happens to have wings. romance/supernatural/angst/hurt/comfort/friendship/drama/advent./family.
1. Chapter 1

Mercedes looked down at her cell phone when it started playing 'spotlight'. _**You had better bring you're fat arse straight home this time! No more staying with that Asian girl!**_ It read. It was a text message from her father. Another one. She had been secretly staying with Tina for a day.

How did he find out where she was? She didn't tell anyone! Nobody but Tina knew, and she most definitely didn't squeal. Now she HAD to go home, and there was no doubt in her mind that her father would do any and everything to keep her in the house now.

He wasn't REALLY her father, he was her foster father. She had three other foster siblings; an older brother, Luke who was 16, an older sister, Lupe who was 17, and a younger brother, Connor who was 9. She had been with them ever since she was five years old.

Luke, Lupe, Connor and herself did everything to protect each other. She was really scared to go home. She had to go home because Julius most likely knew where Tina lived, and he might hurt her or her family, and if Mercedes wasn't at home by 3:30, 30 minutes after school let out, he would without a doubt come a knockin' at Tina's door. Luke, Connor and Lupe had run away as well. She remembered clearly why she had even moved out in the first place.

_Julius Amadeus had come stumbling into the house at 11:00 pm. He leaned on the doorframe of the kitchen. He saw Lupe stirring a small pot of hot Mac and cheese, Luke sitting at the table counting his earnings, and Mercedes helping Connor with his homework. 'Homework,' he thought. 'Doin' all that school work and getting nothing out of it. School didn't promise success. _

"_Stop writin' that CRAP boy. School ain't gonna do nothing for you. All yer gonna be is a dealer, if you're lucky." He said, slurring on the last word, because he was drunk. _

"_Don't tell him that," said Lupe, from her spot in the kitchen stirring the cheesy noodles. _

"_What did you say to me, lil' girl?" he said. _

_Lupe sharply turned around, her black, short, crinkly locks bouncing in the process. She narrowed her eyes at him. "I said. Don't. Tell him that!" she said, with a faint Spanish accent. Julius stomped over and knocked the black pot over, spilling hot mac and cheese across the floor. _

_He turned around to see Luke glaring at him. When Julius met Luke's eyes, Luke lowered his head and hid his face behind his dirty blonde bangs. Julius opened the refrigerator and grabbed a bottle of beer. He watched Lupe cleaning the mac and cheese from the floor. He felt Luke's eyes on him and turned around to see the boy glaring at him for staring at Lupe's butt. _

"_You eye bawlin' me boy?" he said in a menacing tone. When Luke didn't answer, he slammed his bottle down on the table and got right up in Luke's personal space, still gripping the glass object. Angered that he didn't spark fear in the boy (which he did, Luke almost peed himself, butt to hades if he was going to give this crap wad the satisfaction!), he snatched the small stack of cash away from the boy and ripped every. Single. Bill. In half. Luke's gray eyes flashed in anger. _

"_Do you know how long it took me to earn that money you douche? We NEEDED THAT!" _

"_I AM THE EARNER OF THIS HOUSE!" _

"_Well it's not like it benefits us," said Lupe snidely. _

"_Pays the bills don't it?" _

"_Umm…NO! The lights have been off and the phone's been disconnected for almost a month now!" _

"_You spent all your money on booze," said Connor. _

"_Shut up faggot! Why ya gotta be such a fairy? Huh? We got candles! Payphone's just down the freakin street you lazy moderners!" _

"_Well maybe if you got a real job…" said Mercedes. _

"_Well maybe if you got a real job," Julius mocked. _

"_Maybe if you'd eat less I'd have money you fat pig. And I do have a real job!" _

"_No you don't!" said Luke. _

"_All you do is sell bootleg DVDs, purses, stolen shoes and jewelry, and god knows what else!" shouted Mercedes. _

"_Yeah and we're sick of having to hide you from the police!" said Connor. _

"_Well I'm sick of having to pick you up from school because you can't defend yourself boy!" shouted Julius. _

"_Crack baby," Connor mumbled under his breath, knowing that was a sore spot for Julius. Lupe and Mercedes' eyes met. They slowly and cautiously grabbed Connor and Luke and they all curled themselves up in the corner. They heard a loud roar of anger and heard crashing and breaking glass. Julius had thrown a vase, a stool, and a big mug. Unfortunately Mercedes looked up at the wrong time. Being at the front of the huddle, she was the one who was hit when Julius decided to throw his beer bottle at the hunched up kids. The bottle flew through the air, smashing into Mercedes' face. _

"_Ow! Oh my god, Julius!" she shouted. _

"_Now go to bed!" shouted Julius. _

_The four of them trudged away. Lupe and Mercedes shared a room with a built in bathroom, while Luke and Connor had their own rooms downstairs with a bathroom next to their rooms. While Lupe was cleaning a cut on Mercedes' face and tending to her black eye, Mercedes got an idea. _

"_Lupe?" Mercedes whispered. _

"_Yeah?" Lupe whispered back, even though she didn't know why they were whispering. But Mercy probably had a good reason. _

"_We have to get out of here," _

"_how?" _

"_Uh, duh, Lu, we sneak out." _

"_Are you crazy?" Lupe whisper shouted. _

"_If he catches us we'll get killed!" _

"_Well then we won't let him catch us! We'll scatter!" _

"_But where will we go?" _

"_Remember when your friend Ashley said that if you ever needed anything she would help? Well, she works at that hotel on Duval street. " _

"_she can't just GIVE me a room." _

"_Yes but she could be a familiar face on the other side of town. I could live with Tina, Luke could go with Andrew Avery, and you could take Connor." Lupe looked down to her lap, playing with the towel. She looked up and nodded. "Okay. Tomorrow night. What's the plan?"_

_The next night, Mercedes, Luke, Lupe and Connor made sure that Julius was all liquored up and passed out by 9. At exactly 9:00, Lupe and Mercedes skillfully slid two packed duffel bags from under their beds. Mercedes got a text from Luke. __**Ready.**__ It read. _

_Since they were on the second floor, they had to go through the window to get past Julius. They got the rope made from jump ropes and sheets from under the bed and draped it out of the window, securing it to a strong titanium hook on the wall. They dropped their bags down and out the window. Lupe swiftly climbed out the window and started down the rope, followed by Mercedes. _

_Once they reached the ground, all four of them snatched their bags and took off running. They ran three blocks, turned the corner, ran through a dog park, and met next to a bronze (or maybe copper…) statue of an old guy standing loyally next to a collie. They saw a black van, a blue beetle, and a red ford focus parked on the corner. They all hugged out a quick goodbye and hopped into the cars._

That all happened last night. He had probably found out where the others were already. She still had 10 minutes until glee club let out, so she could quickly make arrangements with Lupe on where they would shuffle to next. She barely noticed that glee club was letting out. When she bent to grab her bag, she rose to see Santana in front of her. She gave a shy smile. Santana sat down in front of Mercedes, and she took it as a sign to sit back down.

"Look, wheezy. Preggers, lady face, and Frodo, and everyone else you called your friend who decided to be besties with Berry may not notice, but I do. Why are you wearing sunglasses? It's not sunny. It's April. It's been raining for two days. SOMEBODY gave you a black eye and you need to tell me who so auntie Snix and puckasaurus can take care of it," said Santana. Crap! She was ALMOST THERE! Almost a full 2 days without anyone noticing her eye before she had time to go cover it. Now she had to try to LIE to SANTANA. She had to attempt the impossible.

"Uhm, Santana, I just was in the park and fell and hit my face on a rock," she said.

"But you would tell me if Trouty actually gave you that shiner right?" said Santana.

"Yes I would, and no Sam has Never raised a hand to me," replied Mercedes swiftly. Santana, satisfied, crossed her legs and smirked.

"I'm surprised that porcelain hasn't noticed yet, I thought you guys were like ebony and ivory," Said Santana.

"I guess he just likes Rachel better, for some reason," said Mercedes. "I know right! He'd probably notice in a heartbeat if it were her. When did that happen?"

"When they sang some stupid duet, and then Kurt and Blaine sang a stupid duet, and then Blaine and Rachel sang a stupid duet…"

"And…how many stupid duets did you get?"

"Remember 4 minutes?"

"Yeah,"

"that was the last one."

"Ouch, and that wasn't even glee club. Well you know you got me and Tee and Britt."

"Yeah. And that's all I need." Santana smiled and left. Mercedes looked at her watch. 7 minutes. She had already told Tina, and her and her brothers had moved Mercedes things out and into mercy's car. She sent a quick mass text to her siblings. **He's on to us. Go to the Motelongo hotel. You have rooms reserved already. Just tell them my name and they'll give you keys. He's coming for me first, so you still have more time. **She got texts back from Luke, Connor, and then Lupe. She quickly grabbed her bag and was headed out the door, when she bumped into a firm chest. She looked up into a pair of green eyes.

**A/N: okay so, in this fic Mercedes is fifteen and in her sophomore year. Although this whole thing takes place right before Michael. Don't worry, Sebastian is coming in the next chapter. Yes, this is very AU so many details have been changed. **


	2. Chapter 2

**So sorry for the long crazy wait. And Jondale is pronounced YON-DAIL**

"Mercy can you cover for me again? Please?" asked Sam. Mercedes sighed exasperated. "You're getting high again Sam? I thought you were clean! You'd been doing so well!"

"I know and I'm sorry! I've gone an entire week without it. Mercy I gots the shakes! I'm sweating and hurting all over! I just need a little bit! I need to miss this next class! Make me a fake doctor's note or say I'm constipated in the bathroom or something please!"

Feeling sorry for her boyfriend, she agreed. Mercedes never liked it when Sam got high or drunk. Vicotin, Opiates, Adderall, you name it he took it. He was aggressive when he was high. He'd hit Mercedes on more than one occasion. He'd cheated on her many times, and once she had to bail him out of jail for beating up a prostitute. Add the fact that her and her siblings were on the run from a mad man and the glee club drama, and you've got full blown stress problems.

Mercedes walked into Mr. Jondale's class and walked up to his desk. "Mr. Jondale, Sam had a family emergency and had to go home." The teacher slowly fixed his desk plaque thingy that said 'Mr. Evian Jondale' on it. "You know, Mercedes, that's the third time this month that you told me that Sam was…out. If it happens again I'm reporting it and we'll investigate!" he said. "Yes sir," she said with clenched teeth. "Now go sit down…in your ASSIGNED seat miss jones!" he said. She heard him mumble "niggers" under his breath, but she ignored it, she had bigger problems. Julius had found them and she couldn't cover for her boyfriend anymore.

School finally ended. She hopped in her car and went to a little coffee shop named _le trou dans le mur,_ or LeTrou for short. She needed some hot peppermint tea. As she was walking into LeTrou, she bumped into something firm and erect, like a fiscal brick wall.

"Watch where you're going!" said the melodious male voice. He sounded like…an angel, despite the rudeness. She never got the chance to apologize, since he walked away muttering to himself. She walked into the shop, in a trance. She barely noticed the cashier speaking to her. She thought about the guy with the light brown hair and piercing green eyes. The way he walked like he was gliding. How straight he stood and how soft his voice was, yet how masculine it was. She forced herself to get off the subject of…_him._

She had a boyfriend, and bigger things to think about. All her things were moved to the porch in front of Tina's house. When she got there she quickly loaded it up. She met at the agreed location. Lupe had already gotten their room (they could only afford one room). Connor was snug in bed with Lupe and Luke was in a swivel chair with his left leg shaking up and down.

"I've been waiting all day for you! We were worried sick!"

"I stopped at a coffee shop, sorry I didn't call,"

"s'ok," He said, patting the area on the bed next to him. She put herself down next to her brother and fell asleep as her head was filled with thoughts of the ethereal boy at LeTrou. She even had a dream.

_She was standing in the middle of a forked road. Two big rig trucks were coming towards her. She tried to move, but she couldn't. Then, the guy from LeTrou came down from the sky, with wings, and saved her at the last minute._

Mercedes woke up in a cold sweat.


	3. Chapter 3

As soon as Mercedes got to school the next day, she dragged Sam into the supply closet. "I can't cover for you," said Mercedes. "What? Why?!" he said.

"Jondale is starting to get suspicious," she said. "He said that I can't give another excuse for you anymore, and if I do he's investigating. Plus I'm starting to feel bad about enabling you anyway."

"What? _Enabling_ me? No! No! No! mercy you're _helping_ me! I feel better with the drugs!"

"No Sam. I'm not doing it anymore." Sam looked at her with pure hatred in his eyes. "This is your fault. You tipped him off didn't you?! DIDN'T YOU?!"

"N-no I swear!"

"This IS ALL YOUR FAULT!"

"Sammy please! It's not my fault!"

"You're trying to ruin me! You're nothing but a jealous shrew. Rachel was right! I'm done with you!" Sam walked out the door and slammed it. Mercedes stood there frozen and frigid for about a minute, which felt like an hour. She finally took a breath to calm herself and walked out the door. She walked into the glee club and Sam wasn't there. "Anyone know where Sam is?" asked Mr. Shue. Everyone looked at her. She shrugged her shoulders.

They turned back to doing whatever they were supposed to be doing. They were only going over the basics of what Mr. Shue said yesterday. Mercedes was stuck with thoughts of the boy at LeTrou, when Mr. Shue brought her back to earth with a snap. "The warblers will be performing with us as well as vocal adrenaline. It's a unified state competition." Warblers! The boy was from Dalton! She remembered how good he looked in that private school suit.

After school, Mercedes took another trip to LeTrou, hoping to find the guy there so she can observe him more (though not before calling Lupe). Lucky for her, he was there, sipping a chai latte and reading her favorite book _Insurgent._ She ordered her regular: peppermint tea and a cinnamon Danish. She pretended to be reading a random book that she picked up from the store next door. When the boy walked past her to throw away a napkin, he looked at her funny. She took out her compact mirror. Everything was fine. She looked down at herself and realized that she was reading a Portuguese cook book.

Upside down.

She put it away, ashamed. She was blushing, and she saw the guy smiling at her. It's not that she liked him; she barely knew him. She found him quite interesting though.

The next day, Mercedes was glowing. Absolutely BEAMING! She got a job at the BEST coffee shop ever. When she got her job at LeTrou she saw it as the one little beam of hope in her life amidst a sea of hopelessness and sorrow.

She'd be able to help her siblings, see Angel, (she didn't know his name) and get an employee's discount. She only worked on Tuesdays, Thursdays and Sundays. Angel went to LeTrou EVERY SINGLE DAY. She had been watching him. Yeah, she stalked him, she admits. But it's not stalking if he doesn't know, right?

…right?...


	4. Chapter 4

Mercedes was exhausted. Working at LeTrou was harder than she thought. She had spent all day working the espresso machine. She rotated with Abby and Daniel (her co-workers) between bussing tables, waiting tables and working the machines. It was Mercedes' turn to bus the tables. She went around, picking up glasses and plates and napkins. She was wiping table 3 down and then she saw HIM.

He was sitting at table 6, reading an Edgar Allen Poe book.

She was so busy looking at him that she knocked down a coffee mug and it shattered on the floor. She scrambled for her mini broom and dustpan. As she was sweeping up the glass, she looked up, and he just happened to be looking at her. He had this quizzical look on his face. They broke the gaze after about 3 seconds.

She felt a tap on her shoulder. It was her manager, Morgan. "Your day is over, Mercedes. You can go home now," she said. She put the broken glass in the trash and hung up her apron. It was time to go to the rehearsal with the warblers. She sped to the hotel and changed into her black tee shirt and black jeans.

**At the rehearsal**

"Turn, turn, step, hips…" Mercedes was in the back, not paying attention, just going through the motions. "Ok break," said Mr. Shue. The kids all went separate ways. She was sitting in a seat, all alone, when she happened to look to her left.

Sam was talking to one of the cheerios that Brittany assigned to help choreograph the dance. She was twirling her platinum blonde extensions and poking out her fake chest. She clearly had a fake tan and she wore light pink lipstick. Sam noticed Mercedes looking over at him and he stood behind the girl, wrapped his arms around her waist and whispered something into her ear. She giggled. It was one of those annoying, tinkly, bimbo giggles. She then looked at Mercedes and smirked.

Mercedes knew this girl, and she was NOT Sam's type. She was in Mercedes' history class. This girl, Hannah Gordon, was beyond stupid. One day they were sitting in class talking about britain and she said "that guy's british? But he's _black!_" she was fake and dumb, everything Sam hates. So she knew he was just trying to get under her skin.

She flinched; she'd been startled. Someone had plopped into the seat next to her. It was Kurt. This was a surprise: he hadn't spoken to her in a week.

"Sebastian is such a…ugh! I hate him!" he said.

"Sebastian?" she asked.

"Yeah, guy with the meerkat face and CW hair," Said Kurt, pointing at angel.

"Oh, Angel," Said Mercedes, understanding.

"Angel? Who's angel?" asked Kurt.

"Oh, no one," said Mercedes.

"Anyway, I know he's trying to steal my man, and that just won't fly," Said Kurt, fixing his hair. Mercedes sighed. "Well Sam is-"

"Oh, can't talk now cedes Rachel's coming. Hi Rachel!" and then he left. This is the way it's been for the past few months. Listening to his problems and being so supportive, only to get ignored time and time again. Oh well. It's not like anything could be done but give in to the fact that their friendship had shriveled up and gone to dust.

"Break over!" called mister Shue. And everyone got back on stage, and Mercedes went back to mindlessly dancing.

**The next morning (a Saturday) at LeTrou **

Mercedes was off today, but she still was going to hang out at LeTrou. She had a book with her: miss peregrine's home for peculiar children. She was all into the book, when she felt someone bump into her. It was Sebastian. He turned around. "Oh, I'm sorry…you're Mercedes, right?" he said.

**A/N: can you guys tell me if my cliffie sucked? Sorry it took fo-eva to update. Just to warn you that might be the case again. I'm studying Shakespeare in almost ALL my classes, except for math. So that means music, history, theater…yeah. So um, read and review please. **


	5. Chapter 5

"Y-yes I am." She said. She spoke sternly yet softly, sat up a little straighter and crossed her legs, to send a message that said "I'm approachable, but not one to mess with, and if you're looking for cookies, bakery's closed." She learned that guys assessed your confidence/easiness by the way you carry yourself. She had to, living with Julius and having his "friends" over frequently.

"Sebastian Smythe…I'm a friend of Blaine's"

"yes, I know," she said, side eyeing him over her beverage. "I'm sure you'd _love _to be _great _friends with Kurt's _boyfriend_ Blaine, Mr. Smythe"

"so I see you've been talking to Kurt,"

"yes I have and from what he told me, you're a snake."

"I'm not as bad as he chalks me up to be. I sat down to talk to a Dalton legend, and he flipped out and jumped to conclusions. He told me how much he hated me without hesitation, and that I should stay away from his boyfriend. So I toyed with him, feigning interest in his…elf. I mean, really Blaine's not even my type. He's a 7 at best."

'_Why am I not surprised_?' thought Mercedes. That sounded just like Kurt. "Well I'm sorry you had to go through such a thing,"

"oh I'm sure I'll manage." He said, nonchalantly. "So I see you're into Portuguese cuisine."

They stayed and talked until Abby had to personally remove them. He was nice and extremely funny. She liked funny. She was on an emotional high until she was brought back to earth by the gravity of her situation. She walked 15 minutes until she got to the hotel.

Mercedes dug in her wallet and fished out some cash. She went up to the desk clerk and requested another week in the room she and her siblings were in. they only had a short amount of time to establish more permanent living arrangements. Luke and Lupe kept saying they were "working on it" and they would "come up with something soon."

But the question that rang in Mercedes' heart and ears was …_how _soon? How soon before they can't stay in the hotel any longer? How soon until they were out on the cold, hard streets? How long until they had to go hungry? How long before, dare she say, Julius found them? Truth is, no one knew.

Connor didn't get why they couldn't just call cps or something. Nobody could find the words to tell him that the government didn't care; they never did and they never would. Besides, Julius would find another way to make it look like he was a model foster parent and the kids were just 'acting out' for attention.

Even though this was the fourth report they had given.

They'd learned at an early age that the only people who would save them were themselves. She got into the room and sat down. Lupe was fast asleep in a plushy chair. Conner was on the left side of the bed sleeping soundly…she saw the tear tracks on his face and knew he had cried himself to sleep again. Those kids at school can be really hateful sometimes. Once they threw dirt at him and called him 'fagboy'. Luke looked like he had just passé d out on the floor. She checked to make sure he was still breathing, then passed out on the bed herself.

At 2 A.M the next morning, she heard someone come into the room. She clutched her apache revolver and braced herself. She gently kicked Luke in his side, and he knew that as the "intruder" signal. He got up quick and nudged Lupe. She grabbed a still sleeping Connor and got in the small bathroom. Luke turned on the light. It was Sam.

**A/N: so sorry this took so long… I got grounded and wasn't allowed to use my laptop. Sooooooooooooooooooo I updated WAY past my deadline. Sry. **


End file.
